Re: GG: Music theorists?

[Robert Clements <clemensr@mailhost.world.net>]

At 15:21 25/10/1996 +1000, i wrote:
>
>Last point first: not in any theoretical sense. The _use_ of the tone-row by
>Schoenberg & von Webern is somewhat different (see below); but i suspect GG
>is using _tone-row_ here in much the same way other people would use the
>expression like melody (cf: "Beethoven's melodies as distinguished from
>Mozart's"), since the tone-row is to the serialist composition is
>(basically) what a melody is to a tonal work (this statement is more true in
>the music of Anton von Webern than Schoenberg, by the way).

(etc; at exhaustive length)

In response to those who've queried my (admittedly pointed) use of the
honorific _von_ Webern in my diatribe (honest, officer, i didn't know the
gun was loaded)....

(At least i know people read what my post. What a horrible thought!)

The composer's name was Count Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (to give
him his full _handle_); & he was a pure-blooded Aryan _ubermensch_... which
explains why (despite the mythology) he was able to write, edit (mostly for
Universal Edition in Vienna) & teach quite successfully throughout the Nazi
era. He also had SS links (in the most generally accepted version of his
(timely?) death - Richard Stilgoe's theory that "a music lover got him" is
not widely accepted outside the war-crimes tribunal in the Hague - is that
he was shot by MPs who believed he was his son-in-law: an SS officer turned
black-marketeer). In the 20s, he tried to drop the _von_ for political
reasons (some readers may be aware that he lead a number of socialist choirs
around that time); but like many upper class radicals, he had the proverbial
_feet of clay_... if he had _any_ objection to the Nazis at all, it was
probably because of the lost of the fine Jewish musicians who could play
good German music....

In pointedly using the Count's full name, i admit to making a political
point... reminding people that history - notwithstanding the wonderful
history-satire _1066 & All That_ - is not what people _remember_ but what
actually happened. Few composers have had history rewritten more cynically
for them than von Webern after his death.

You might suspect that i have little time for his music; & no time at all
for the man. You'd be right.

Schoenberg is a completely issue....

I promise to be less politicised in the future....

All the best,


Robert Clements
clemensr@mailhost.world.net